"The Routledge Handbook of Francophone Africa brings together a multidisciplinary team of international experts to reflect on the history, politics, societies, and cultures of French-speaking parts of Africa.
Consisting of approximately 35% of Africa’s territory, Francophone Africa is a shifting concept, with its roots in French and Belgian colonial rule. This handbook develops and problematizes the term, with thematic sections covering:
Colonial and post-colonial ties between France and sub-Saharan Africa Belgium, Belgian colonialism and Africa The Maghreb African Francophones in France Francophone African literature and film ‘Francophone’ and ‘Anglophone’ Africa Beyond national boundaries and ‘colonial partners’
The chapters demonstrate the evolution of ""Francophone Africa"" into a multi-dimensional construct, with both a material and an imagined reality. Materially, it defines a regional territorial space that coexists with other conceptualisations of African space and borders. Conceptually, Francophone Africa constitutes a shared linguistic and cultural space within which collective memories are shared, not least through their connection to the French imperial imagination. Overall, the Handbook demonstrates that as global power structures and relations evolve, African agency is increasingly assertive in shaping French-African relations.
Bringing this important debate together into a single volume, this Handbook will be an essential resource for students and scholars interested in Francophone Africa."
Edited by:
Tony Chafer (University of Portsmouth UK),
Margaret A. Majumdar
Imprint: Routledge
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 246mm,
Width: 174mm,
Weight: 1.240kg
ISBN: 9780815350835
ISBN 10: 081535083X
Pages: 486
Publication Date: 02 November 2023
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Primary
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
"Introduction Section 1. Colonial and post-colonial ties between France and sub-Saharan Africa 1. Colonialism and Decolonisation in French sub-Saharan Africa 2. Françafrique 3. The Durability of the ""Gendarme de l'Afrique"": from Empire to Fighting Terrorism 4. Francophonie and Africa: Past, Present and Future Perspectives 5. France and Francophone Africa: An Enduring Financial and Economic Relationship faced with Uncertainty 6. Colonial Medicine in French West Africa: Scientists for Empire from the origins to independence 1960 7. French Schools in sub-Saharan Africa 8. Reconciling with the Past and Looking to the Future: The Place of the Tirailleurs Sénégalais in Post-Colonial Senegal Section 2. Belgium, Belgian colonialism and Africa 9. Belgian colonisation in Africa and decolonisation 10. Facing ghosts: Lumumba Shadows 11. Guilty Imaginaries: rethinking language and ethnicity in post-colonial Rwanda and Burundi Section 3. The Maghreb 12. Language Policies in Algeria since 1962: Identity Renewal in the Light of Realpolitik Imperatives 13. The Languages of Democracy in post 2011 Tunisia 14. Maghrebi Francophonies: from the Colonial to the Postcolonial and Beyond Section 4. Francophones in France 15. ""A Great Gang of Black and Brown Humanity"": The Lives and Politics of African Migrants in Twentieth Century France, from Vagabonds and Transients to Maritime Labourers and Intellectuals 16. Postcolonial Migration, Racism and Culture: France and North Africa 17. Cultural Pan-Africanism in Twentieth Century France 18. ""Our lives are political!"" Afrofeminism in France or the fightback of the granddaughters of Empire 19. The Road to 2005: How the Memory of Colonialism in France Became a Substitute for Race Section 5. Francophone African Literature and Film 20. Colonial/ Postcolonial Francophonies in Sub-Saharan Africa: From Topicality to Universality 21. The problematic location of Reunionese literature within Francophone studies 22. How African languages free Francophone African cinema Section 6. ‘Francophone’ and ‘Anglophone’ Africa 23. ‘Francophones’ and ‘Anglophones’ in Cameroon: Official bilingualism, language competition and everyday practice 24. A Postcolonial appraisal of Francophone/ Anglophone relations in Cameroon 25. The Commonwealth of Nations and ‘francophone’ Africa: bridging the colonial divides? Section 7. Beyond national boundaries and 'colonial partners' 26. Pan-Africanism in francophone West Africa: continuity vs rupture 27. Francophone Africa beyond 'colonial partners': French-speaking countries' economic cooperation with China 28. From Regional Organisations to Coalition Interventions: Francophone Africa and contemporary security challenges"
Tony Chafer is Emeritus Professor of African and French Studies at the University of Portsmouth and a Fellow of the Society for Peace Studies and Practice, University of Ibadan. He is a historian specializing on Francophone Africa and French relations with Africa in the late colonial and post-colonial periods. His monograph La fin de l’empire colonial français en Afrique de l’Ouest: entre utopie et désillusion was published by Presses Universitaires de Rennes in 2019. He edited (with Alexander Keese) Francophone Africa at Fifty (2013). He recently published ‘Beyond Françafrique – the state of relations between France and Africa’, Europa World (Routledge, 2023). He has also published widely on French military and security policy in Africa. Margaret A. Majumdar is Emeritus Professor of Francophone Studies at the University of Portsmouth. She has published extensively on French political philosophy and the Francophone dimension of postcoloniality. Her publications include Post-coloniality: The French Dimension (2007); Transition and Development in Algeria: Economic, Social and Cultural Challenges (with M. Saad, 2005); Francophone Studies: The Essential Glossary (2002); and Althusser and the End of Leninism? (1995).
